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Monday, 22 December 2014

Second Book Walk in Delhi NCR

Past Sunday I
organized the second book walk for my meetup group and it wasn’t a grand
success as barring me, the number of participants was one less than last time.
Last time, we had two participants. :P

I wasn’t disappointed though because it is not bad for a
start. The purpose of the book walk was fulfilled where I met someone who had
an interest in books and was willing to share his thoughts. I wish this idea
snowballs into something beautiful one day.

Mr Hitesh Rathi, an engineer by profession seemed to have a
keen eye for good contemporary nonfiction books. He told me that he had recently
completed the book ‘Breaking India’ by Rajiv Malhotra and would highly
recommend it. He told me that the book contained 60 pages of bibliography and
was a thoroughly researched book. As he was into Indian history and busting
myths, I recommended him my favourite book on the topic- ‘Sanskriti Ke Chaar
Adhyay’ by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar. Very few people know that Dinkar was actually
a historian by education and he took up literature as a hobby later.

Mr Rathi also shared his views about the popular series of
Games of Thrones and I couldn’t but ruefully mourn my ignorance in the fantasy
fiction department.

I also seem to get the same reaction from every book lover
when I tell them I haven’t yet read Mario Puzo’s Godfather which is a wide-eyed
look of surprise. I need to read it ASAP. I am losing face.

I shared my experience of reading Indian authors- Amitav
Ghosh and Arundhati Roy in their respective works The Shadow Lines and The God
of Small Things. Mr Rathi talked about how some movies more than make up for
the books. We also talked about how the book ‘Shantaram’ is a literary gem.

I have never touched the genre of
motivational books but he talked pretty enthusiastically about it. We also gave a quick thought to Paulo Coelho and how all his books other than 'The Alchemist' were a bit disappointing. We discussed
the idea of pooling our reading lists together in the group so that when we
meet, we have an idea of who is going to talk about what. Mr Rathi was a keen
follower of Indian tradition and wanted to read more about it. He wants to
learn Sanskrit so that he can read a firsthand account of Yajurveda etc. I
applauded the idea.

Hope to see more people in the next book walk.

Here’s a short note to thank Teja and Pathik for showing up
at the first meet. I have bought and am reading Teja’s recommendation- ‘Kane
and Abel’ by Jeffrey Archer.

I draw cartoons, but won't call myself a cartoonist. I write fiction and non-fiction, I ramble, but won't call myself a writer. I am athletic and I like to read but won't call myself an Acrobat Reader!